Education and Training Policy and Projects

We help Australian business by developing policies that highlight education and training issues impacting on their competitiveness. By advocating change and making recommendations to relevant stakeholders we help to improve the workforce skills that companies need.

Our policy efforts on behalf of members involve making submissions on education and training issues to government. Our research and project work ensures that new models and programs are trialled and implemented for industry.

Education and Training Policy Statements and Submissions

We undertake education and training research, develop policy statements and reports, and make submissions on behalf of members in order to address the skill needs of industry. Recent examples include:

Policy Statements

This policy statement recommends a number of actions for closer cooperation by government, industry and universities to build future graduates who have the adaptive capabilities needed for the fast-changing world of work. View the full statement here.

This policy statement discusses the importance and benefits of apprenticeships to Australia, the current situation, what employers are saying and recommends a range of measures to support the apprenticeships pathway. View the full statement here.

This policy statement addresses the increasing importance of literacy and numeracy in the evolving economy, the current situation, what employers are saying, case studies and suggests what needs to be done to develop a stronger focus in this area. View the full statement here.

This national strategy is designed to increase opportunities to participate in WIL, recognising the benefits to students, employers, universities and the economy. Ai Group's partners in this national effort include the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Business Council of Australia, Universities Australia and the Australian Collaborative Education Network Ltd. The Strategy proposes action in eight key areas. View the full statement here.

This statement highlights the importance of addressing enterprise leadership in Australia, how Australia compares to other countries, addressing the barriers to improvement and approaches to the way forward. View the full statement here.

This policy statement addresses the imperative of STEM skills, the current situation in all sectors, what employers are saying and a suggested course of action and recommendations. View the full statement here.

Archive

This Statement of Intent is co-signed by Universities Australia, the Ai Group and other peak business organisations to support university-business partnerships and to advance the implementation of Work Integrated Learning for undergraduate students participating in work placements in industry.

This policy statement highlights the importance of foundation skills, the current status of these in Australia, what employers are saying about this issue and a series of recommendations for future action.

This policy statement addresses several school sector issues including resourcing, teaching capability, foundation skills, school - industry partnerships, VET in Schools programs, STEM subjects and advances a number of recommendations targeted at improvement.

Industry 4.0 is about the next stage in manufacturing driven by the impact of digitalisation and emerging technologies on Australia’s ability to compete and participate in global value chains. This project seeks to address these challenges through the development and introduction of a new Diploma and Associate Degree of Applied Technologies, developed by Swinburne University of Technology, and delivered by Siemens Ltd through an apprenticeship mode.

Ai Group is undertaking two projects within its Apprenticeship Compact with the NSW Department of Industry. The projects aim to assist companies and their apprentices with language, literacy and numeracy needs, and to assist school/industry liaison for the recruitment of apprentices. The projects have recently commenced and will continue through 2019.

This innovative project, funded by the Victorian Government, involved a leadership development program aimed at facilitating the transition of emerging leaders from shopfloor positions into a management role. The program used a number of methods including action learning, adaptive leadership principles and a framework for regular coaching and self-guided reflection. Individualised work based projects were driven by company needs and participants undertook the program in groups of eight companies, establishing business networks. The learnings from the project have helped to develop an implementation guide for use by any company or RTO.

This Accelerated Apprenticeship initiative funded by the Australian Government implemented competency based progression and completion for over 3,500 engineering apprentices across ten different Registered Training Organisations covering each State.

Archive

This is an Australian Apprenticeships Mentoring Program initiative which provides mentoring services to over 400 manufacturing apprentices and their employers to assist apprentices to complete their apprenticeship.

This project is funded by the Office of Chief Scientist and involves the collaboration of the Ai Group with the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers to determine what mathematics skills are used in the workplace and how these can be integrated into the secondary school curriculum.